News

Police and Neo-Nazis Allegedly Attack Minority Students in Penza

(December 1, 2008)

Neo-Nazi and police allegedly attacked minority students in Penza,
Russia, the latest in a series of violent racist incidents in that
city, according to a December 1, 2008 report by the Sova
Information-Analytical Center. Citing the independent web site
Ingushetia.org, which has been the target of official repression
because of its hard-hitting coverage of the situation in Ingushetia,
Sova reported today that on September 6, 2008 a group of neo-Nazis
attacked medical students from the Russian republics of the Caucasus
on their campus. Police responding to news of the violence allegedly
started beating the students while cursing them and insulting their
ethnic origin. The violence allegedly continued inside the police
station before the students were released; one Ingush student has been
hospitalized in serious condition, reportedly as a result of the
beating.

On November 18, neo-Nazis again attacked minority students, though
this time unsuccessfully. A student leader reportedly announced that
the students would kill anyone who attacks them. However, attacks on
individuals and threats against female students from the Caucasus
continue in the city. The local authorities allegedly warned the
students not to report the attacks to their parents, on pain of
expulsion.

UCSJ is currently searching for additional information on this alarming news.